Measuring device



Aug. 8, 1944. 2,355,128

F. W. WHITLCK MEASURING DEVICE Filed March 19, 1942 5 Sheets-Sheet l F V /Z f L. v 35 gra/ucm TIEN/M415' 4 MZW *fg/W www' AUS 8, 1944 F. w. wHl'rLocK 2,355,128

MEASURING DEVICE Filed March 19., 1942 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 l 'mur/wwwmain] /4 gmc/wm Fred W- Wh'tlnck Aug. 8, 1944.

F` W. WHITLOCK MEASURING DEVICE Filed March 19, 1942 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 4 PMs/vs @www tlmck Fra d W.Wh

Patented Aug. 8, 1944 MEASURING DEVICE Fred W. Whitlock, United States Army,

Application Maren 19, 1942, serial No. 435,328

'1 claims. (ci. 234-295) (Granted under the ci of Much 3, 1ss3, u amended april 3o, 192s; 37o o. G. mi

'Ihe invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes, without the payment to me oi' any royalty thereon.

This invention relates to measuring devices y and is .particularly concerned with apparatus for mesuring velocity and acceleration of moving pa s.

In mechanisms where the motion of a part occurs only once. it has been dimcult to establish the character oi' motion of the part with accuracy, particularly when the forces oi' acceleration are very high'and where the velocity ot motion is very low. As an example of a mechanism in which studies of motion are desired, a gun recoil mechanism may be used. In the past, studies of recoil motion have been accomplished by attaching a stylus on the gun and a smoked plate on the carriage; and as the gun moves in recoil, a line is inscribed upon the smoked plate. superimposed upon the record of gun travel is a time curve produced by a tuning fork carrying a stylus which indicates the time of gun travel in ilxed time intervals. Velocities and accelerations may be ascertained roughly from this graph. The single line produced by the tuning fork stylus is of such character that accurate determinations of movement are very dilcult.

It is an object of this invention to provide a system for measuring distance-time relationships of a moving object in such a manner that increments oi' distance and time may be established with great definlteness upon a record chart whereby the time-distance values may be used to establish velocity and acceleration oi' the parts with great accuracy.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a mode of establishing time-distance relationships in anyv mechanism involving linear or rotational movement of either repetitive or nonrepetitive character.

The details of the invention may be understood from a reading of the description below in connection with the drawings in which:

Figure l is a diagrammatic view of the apparatus used in practicing the invention;

Figure 2 is a sample of the type of record which is produced by the apparatus;

Figure 3 is a side elevation, partly in section, showing one of the components of the apparatus;

Figure 4 is a section on the line 4 4 of Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a schematic elevation of 'the apparatus of Figure 3 showing the mode of windins:

Figure 6 is a diagrammatic side elevation of an alternate arrangement of apparatus as used for determining angular movement versus time:

Figure '7 is a front elevation of the apparatus of Figure 6; and

Fig. 8 is a diagrammatic view of another form of apparatus that may be used in practicing the invention.

Reference may rst be made to Figure 1 wherein l0 indicates a coilA assembly having pluralities of coils II, wound in the same sense, alternating with pluralities of coils I2 wound in the opposite sense; the coils II and I2 being serially connected as at I 3. The assembly I0 may be mounted on a ilxed part of a machine structure and is oi' substantialLv equal length Ato the motion path which is to be studied. Upon a moving part of the mechanism there is a coil I4 closely related to the assembly III and adapted to travel therealong. The movingr element to which the coil I4 is attached is indicated at I5. The coil I4 is energized by a beat frequency oscillator I8, through an amplifier I'I at high frequency. The actual frequency used will depend upon the speed of motion to be studied; for practical use in the study of recoil mechanisms, a convenient frequency would be in the neighborhood oi' 6,500 cycles.

'I'he ends of the coil assemblyv I0 are connected through suitable wires I9 and 2li to an amplifier 2| whose output energizes a mirror galvanometer 22. A lamp having a point source of light such as the arc light 23, directs a beam 24 upon the mirror of the galvanometer 22; whence the beam is reflected through a shutter 25 to a rotating nlm drum 26 so that the light beam sweeps over the film during drum rotation to produce a record such as that indicated in Figure 2. For convenience in establishing the time factor on the record, a second mirror galvanometer 28 is vibrated at constant frequency and high amplitude, the frequency being sumciently low so that time lines such as 29 in Figure 2 are superimposed on the motion record, the galvanometer reflecting a beam through the shutter 25 to the lm drum 26.

Since the serially connected windings II and I2 on the assembly I0 are oppositely wound, nodal points are produced between adjacent pairs of coils. Now, as the coil I4 is energized by the oscillator I6, there will be a transfer of energy, by induction, to each oi' the coils II and I2 as the coil I4 comes opposite each one of them. While the coil I4 is opposite one coil, II for instance, thev galvanometer 22 will produce `a.

record on the film on the drum 2l similar to that shown in Figure 2 in the zone l0. As the coil I4 moves between any two coils II and I2, the amplitude of the induced voltage in the coils will become substantially zero due to the phase change resulting from the opposite winding oi coils Il and I2, as indicated at JI in Figure 2. This node 3| on the photographic record, thus indicates a dente point in the travel o! the moving part of the mechanism with respect to the fixed part of the mechanism. By using a high frequency oscillator in the system, the nodes and loops produced on the photographic record give a clear and unmistakable picture of the distance increments through which the mechanism moves. The timing lines 29 form a convenient time datum directly on the photographic record so that the time for any increment of movement may be established definitely. For instance, if each distance increment (i. e., the center distance between coils II and I2) is 1 inch, and if the timing lines 29 are 36,00 second apart, it will be apparent in Figure 2 that the 1 inch distance is traveled in approximately 4%,00 second. If the motion of the mechanism is not uniform, it is apparent that the time for each 1 inch of travel is readily established from a record such as that shown in Figure 2. Thus, point-to-point average velocities may be established and point-to-point average accelerations may also be established. By diminishing the length of successive coils II and I2, the pointto-point velocities may be established more frequently, and the detailed characteristics of motion may be studied with greater accuracy.

Figure 3 shows a typical mechanical embodiment of the assembly III wherein M is a rod over which are slipped alternate washers I5 and spacer sleeves 36 forming a succession of annular grooves within which the windings II and I2 are wound. The spacers and washers may -be secured upon the rod Il by a nut 31.

'I'he windings II and I2 may be serially arranged as shown in Figure l, or alternately the arrangement of Figure 5 may be used in which a first wire 39 is wound continuously into alternate grooves in the same direction. Another wire 40 is wound in the other alternate groove, in the same direction as the ilrst wire. One end of the wire 39 is secured to the corresponding end of the other wire 40, as at 4I, while the other ends oi' both wires are connected to the leads I9, 20 in Fig. l; this winding gives the same opposite phasing eiect as in the arrangement o! Figure 1.

Although in Figure l I show the coil Il energized by theoscillator while the assembly II) acts as the pick-up, this relationship may be reversed. That is, the assembly Il could be energized by the oscillator and then coil I4 could be connected to the. oscillograph. This latter form of apparatus for practicing the invention is illustrated schematically in Figure 8 of the drawings. In this figure, elements or assemblies of apparatus identical with those shown in Figure 1 have been designated by the same reference characters but with the letter a applied thereto. The numerals 50 and 5I in Figure 8 designate the vibrator coils and/or mirrors of galvanometers 22a and 28a. Furthermore, the coil Il could be on the fixed part of the mechanism while the assembly III could be on the moving part of the mechanism, or the coils may be mounted on relatively movable parts where both have positive movement.

If the system herein taught is to be used for determination of angular movement rather than linear movement, the system may be arranged as in Figures 6 and 'l wherein I0 indicates the oppositely wound coil assembly formed as an annulus. The coil I4', whose weight and physical dimensions may be small, is secured to a rotating member 4l. Connections from the coil I 4' may be made through ilexible wires if the total amount of angular motion amounts to only a few revolutions, or if the motion amounts to many revolutions, connections to the coil Il' may be made through a brush and slip ring assembly 46. As shown in Figure 7, each winding increment II and I2 will intercept an angle a, and the photographic record strip obtained by operation oi' the apparatus will show angular distance with respectto time rather than linear distance with respect to time as in the arrangement of Figure l.

The photographic recording apparatus, diagrammatically illustrated in Figure 1, is not a specic part of the invention but is shown merely as one well-known and convenient means of obtaining a permanent record for motion studies. There are other forms of apparatus to secure the same result which may be used in connection with components o! the invention described above.

It is contemplated that this invention may be used constructively for analyzing motions, accelerations, and stresses in many sorts of mechanisms where motions are nonrepetitive. For instance, accurate studies may be made of vehicular suspensions, spring actions and the like. It is appreciated that apparatus for motion studies for repetitive events have been developed to great accuracy, but the instrumentation for such types of study does not lend itself to nonrepetitive motions. The accuracy of the instrumentation used for the study of nonrepetitive motions has been so bad as to prevent constructive results, and it is believed that the teaching of this invention will assist in opening a new eld of research for the improvement of mechanisms of many varieties. It will further be appreciated that the apparatus of this invention will be highly portable in character and fairly universal in scope so that complicated set-ups are unnecessary. Furthermore, this apparatus may be used on vehicles in motion without danger of spoilage of the apparatus or of the results obtained therefrom.

One of the particular advantages resulting from the invention is the node-and-loop form of record, which may be interpreted accurately even though low and high velocities are registered on the same record. The node-and-loop record is made possible by the modulation of the high frequency A. C. as outlined above. Previous single linetime-distance records could be read accurately only in a small range of velocities. If the apparatus included both low and high velocity operation, the record produced was illegible in extreme velocity zones.

While I have described my invention in detail in its presently preferred embodiments, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art, after understanding my invention, that various changes and modiiications may be made without departing from the spirit or scope thereof. I aim in the appended claims to cover all proper modiiications and changes.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for measuring the time-distance characteristics of relatively movable members comprising a plurality o! sequentially arranged oppcsitely phased windings on one member, a coil on the other member movable past the laid windings for electromagnetic coupling therewith. means to energize the windings with high irequency A. C., and means to record the energy picked up by said coil.

2. In apparatus for measuring time-distance characteristics of relatively movable members, a core piece, a coil wound upon said core having a plurality oi' increments sequentially of opposite phase, means securing said core piece and coil to one oi' the members, a coil secured to the other member in coupled relation to part of the first coil, means to energize one of said coils with A. C. energy at a frequency substantially greater than the frequency of expected vibration frequencies occurring during relative movement oi the mein bers. and means to 4record the energy picked up by the other of said coils during relative movement of the members.

3. Apparatus for measuring the time-distance characteristics of relatively movable members comprising a plurality oi sequentially arranged oppositely phased windings on one member, a coil on the other member coupling electromagnetically with said windings, means to energize the said windings with high frequency altemating current, and means to record the energy picked up by said coil.

4. Apparatus for measuring the velocity of a movable object comprising a plurality of fixed sequentially arranged oppositely phased windings, a coil on the movable object coupling electromagnetically with said windings, means to energize 3 the laid windings with high frequency alternating current, and means to record the energyl picked up by said coil.

5. Apparatus for measuring the time-distance characteristics of relatively movable members comprising a plurality of sequentially arrangedI oppositely phased windings on one member, a coil on the other member coupling electromagnetically with said windings, means to energize the said coil with high frequency alternating current, and means to record the energy picked up by said windings.

6. Apparatus for measuring the velocity of a movable object comprising a plurality of tlxed sequentially arranged oppositely phased windings, a coil on the movable object electromagnetically coupling with said windings, means to energize the said coil with high frequency alternating current, and means to record the energy picked up by said windings.

7. Apparatus for measuring the velocity of one body with respect to another body, the said apparatus comprising electrical means including a plurality oi' adjacent sequentially arranged oppositely phased coils on one of said bodies, electrical means including a coil on the other of said bodies coupling electromagnetically with said oppositely phased coils, means for energizing one of said electrical means with high frequency alternating current, and means for translating into graphical record form the alternating current generated in the other of said electrical means during the relative motion ot said bodies. 

